Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Last Saturday, Sherman got to experience the wonderful world of IKEA.. We got there about 9:30 and since they don’t open till 10:00, we went to get some breakfast in the cafeteria that they have. Sherman enjoyed looking through the glass wall onto the lobby below.

After we were done we went on a very long walk around the store. Sherman got to ride in a huge elevator up to the second floor. He did fabulously around all of the people. He enjoyed sprawling out on the cool floor when we stopped.

There were a ton of people there; some very unhappy little kids and as soon as they saw Sherman they were all happy again. I got the cutest little leash hooks.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Sherman attended a play with me last Saturday. The play was called Fishes and Loaves: Easter Edition. Sherman was super good as always. He slept through the first act, even while people were handing out food that smelled really good. During the second act, I moved down a seat so that he could have a little bit more room. Instead of sleeping, he watched the play. This theatre is not your normal theatre. They have live animals in it. In this play they had donkeys, adorable lambs and even a camel. Sherman was most interested in the lambs during the play and could not figure out what that baaing noise was at first. He also seemed to enjoy watching the rest of the play as well. He was so good during the entire play! Afterwards we talked to a man who was in the play that needs a guide dog. We gave him some information and answered his questions. He seemed really happy to meet a puppy in training and was excited about the possibilities of getting a guide dog.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

I saw this great idea on several other puppy raisers’ blog and thought it would be fun. It will be helpful since I am planning on doing a scrapbook page on a day in the life of Sherman. I hope you enjoy reading what our Thursday was like.Our day starts off bright and early. I get awakened every morning (after my alarm goes off and I go back to bed for a few more minutes) by Ely resting his head on my bed - just staring at me. Once my feet hit the ground at 6:20, Ely starts spinning and running around my room, while Sherman rests in his crate, giving Ely and I the “it’s too early” look.

Sherman in the morning.

Our day starts off bright and early. I get awakened every morning (after my alarm goes off and I go back to bed for a few more minutes) by Ely resting his head on my bed - just staring at me. Once my feet hit the ground at 6:20, Ely starts spinning and running around my room, while Sherman rests in his crate, giving Ely and I the “it’s too early” look.

The boys waiting for their food.

Once collars are on, I open the door and Ely walks briskly out. (Well, runs slipping and sliding down the hall would be a better description!) Sherman was still getting out of his crate and doing his morning stretches. I follow Sherman out, both of us still groggy with sleep, and let them out back to go potty. This takes about 30 seconds and they then came in and sit, waiting to eat breakfast. They stay in a sit stay while I fix their food and put it in front of them. (They were not very happy that I made them wait while I took pictures.) After telling them to break, Ely eats his food in about 30 seconds; Sherman on the other hand actually chews his food.

Sherman on Ely's bed while I get ready to go.

Sherman then follows me around as I get ready to go. After I was done getting ready, we went outside to play and let them go potty. Sherman loves playing in the crisp morning air. We then came back in, loaded up the car with Sherman and my stuff and we were off to class.

In the hall waiting for English class to start

Sherman always enjoys looking out the window to see where he is going and he is tall enough to see out the windshield from the back. Once we got to campus, I took Sherman to do a quick potty break before coating up and heading to class. Sherman did great (as normal) walking past a lot of people, construction, and traffic. Sherman has gotten to where he knows where we go on campus. After finding to door and elevator, we ride all the way up to the fifth floor and walk all the way down one of the halls. Since we got there a little early, we waited in the hall till the class that is in the room before our class leaves. Sherman is always so happy to be going places.

Taking a nap during English

Our first class is Literature Based Research; my professor loves Sherman as do most of the students. Sherman knows exactly were we sit and takes me right to it when I tell him to find the chair. Since my class is in a computer lab, Sherman lays between my chair and one of my friend’s chair. Sherman enjoys taking a nap during class. My teacher says that he is just deep in thought and is taking it all in. Some how Sherman knows when class is done at 10:45 and wakes up, but does not get up till I tell him to. I head out with one of my friends, 5 floors worth of stairs and then walk to the other side of campus, past a ton of people. Then we head up 3 floors worth of stairs and into Theatre appreciation.

Chilling out in Theater appreciation

Sherman goes under my desk and lays down watching all of the other students coming in. During class Sherman and I were used as an example for what we could do for our final project. After sleeping through yet another class, we are ready to head out. On the way out of class we stopped to talk to someone in our class who wants to be a puppy sitter. After talking to her for a little bit we head down the hall. More people know Sherman than know me! We head back down 3 floors of stairs and head out. There were dozens of middle schoolers on campus for some reason and Sherman totally ignored all of them while walking past.

On the way home, we made a stop at the vet to get Sherman’s medical records sent to Southeastern and to let everyone say good bye. Most everyone knows who Sherman is, mostly due to the fact that when he went in to get fixed, he somehow escaped out of the crate and was visiting the other dogs. While we were in the vet, there were 6 other dogs in the waiting room that were going crazy and Sherman just sat their watching them get into trouble.

What Sherman looks like on the other side of the fence.

Once we got home, I let Sherman and Ely play in the back yard. It was such a pretty day out that they both enjoyed the outside time. They were so cute running around playing with their toy together. Ely has been on Benadryl for the last few days for his allergies and was starting to get back to his normal self again. They played for awhile and then we came back in so that I could eat lunch and they got a treat. They sprawled out in the sun together and took a nap while I did some homework.

The boys doing a sit stay

Eating dinner

For their dinner they got to eat outside since it was so nice and then they went to play some more while I did some homework outside. Once my mom got home we took them for a walk. Sherman totally ignored the busy traffic when we walked outside of our subdivision and even ignored (with a bit of persuasion) some road kill. They are currently planting a lot of trees along the road and Sherman watched them as we walked past. Both dogs took a nap when we got home.

"Let's Play!"

After playing and being out in the yard for an hour

spring pictures

Spring pics

One of the pics. I took while taking pics.

They then went with me out to take pictures of the cherry tree in the yard. I tried to get some pictures of Sherman and the flowers, but the tree was not blooming enough to see it yet.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Sherman and Ely had a pretty normal day, even though it was St. Patrick’s Day. Sherman attended class, lunch and did some shopping. Ely enjoyed sleeping away the morning in a quiet house. This afternoon, they enjoyed playing outside in the sunshine and enjoying the weather. They were quite tired after their fun filled day!Sherman sporting his green.Ely glowing green.(No dog were harmed in the making of this photo)

On Sunday morning, Sherman attended River Kidz (children’s church at my church). Normally Sherman goes to big church with my parents during the first service, while I teach and then he gets to go to the next service with me as well. Since my parents were out of town Sunday morning, Sherman got to come with me. Everyone loves Sherman at church and he has a HUGE fan club. During our singing he just laid down and went to sleep with 50 kids jumping, singing, and dancing around him. He slept through large group and then just laid down and watched while there were kids sitting all around him during small group. It is amazing what having a cute puppy does to the kids. There are several little girls who are usually very quiet. Sunday they were talking up a storm and were so happy.
Note: Our church is NOT a traditional, quiet church. It is has a LOUD band with lots of singing, clapping and moving around. Sherman seems to enjoy every minute there. Even if the concrete floor does get a bit chilly in the winter!

Sherman with 2 of the little girls in my group.
Sherman with his security tag.

For our March meeting, we went to ride the light rail uptown and do a city walk in uptown Charlotte. It started out with just a drizzle, but soon, the rain came pouring down. To start the meeting, we met inside a puppy raiser’s office to do some business and learned about fun games to play with the puppies. Sherman’s favorite game was “controlled retrieve”. He has been practicing in the backyard with his wubba. It is one of his favorite things.
The pups were extremely patient waiting for the train. Once on board, they did exactly what they were supposed to do. Sherman managed to scrunch himself into a tiny opening in front of a seat. He did extremely well on the light rail. Riding it brought back memories of when we went uptown with him for Christmas when he was only 4 months old. He did such a great job then too. He is a great traveler.
Once we got off the train, we went through some of the buildings uptown, working on finding the door, switch, and the straight line concept. After we came out of the first building, it was raining harder and the dogs could have cared less about the rain. Sherman looked so sad being all wet, but I know he loved working in the rain. That is one thing I don’t have to worry about with him. He is a bit of a mudpuppy! After walking around some more, we continued back to the light rail. All of the pups did a great job with the new sights and sounds.Sherman waiting on the light rail

Monday, March 16, 2009

For my birthday, I got a gift card to Build a Bear for a free animal. We had been to build a bear a few months ago when we were out with some friends and their pups and had built a little black lab to represent Sherman. (I have a stuffed puppy to represent all of my puppies.) Since I had already made an animal, I let Sherman pick out an animal to build. He picked out a really soft lamb (with the help of his Aunt Jessica). He then got to stuff it. With a little encouraging, he put his paw on the peddle to pump the stuffing into the lamb. He then did the heart ceremony (where every heart has to be loved before going into a build a bear. Sherman gave it lots of kisses and it was a damp heart that went into the lamb. It was sown up and the lady who helped us said that he was the first dog to build an animal there. We named it Lambie in honor of Ely’s lamb toy. I do believe Sherman thought it to be quite boring, but he was a little trooper.

Sherman with Lambie (he did a great job leaving it alone in the picture. He knows he is not supposed to play with stuffed animals. He is a great little model)

Back in November, I took Ely to take his therapy dog test. The day of the test I decided to test Sherman as well. We got to the testing site 2 hours early and were numbers 12 and 13. There were around 150 dogs being tested that night. Ely went first and did a great job; passed with flying colors. Sherman went next and was a natural around all of the medical equipment. The medical equipment testers kept on closing in on both Ely and I and he did a great job - just wagging his tail and giving out kisses. Sherman also passed with flying colors. All in all it was a fun night.
After waiting a long time, I finally got their therapy dog stuff. Their little ID’s are so cute. I am super proud of both of my little boys. I can’t wait to start back up their reading dog program at our library. The boys loved hearing all of the stories and of course seeing all of the kids! (The library staff misses seeing them every week; they say they need a dog fix!)Ely leaving the food on the floorEly around the medical equipment

Friday, March 13, 2009

I got the dreaded letter today. Sherman heads off to college the week of April 13th. As much as I hate to give up my little boy, I know that he will be a great guide dog. Hopefully whoever gets him will love to get lots of kisses and like to rub a sweet puppy head. He loves to go new places and one of his favorite things to do is to be out working. Sherman has been a true blessing to raise and I am honored to have had such a special puppy in my life.

The snow started at about 6:00 pm on Sunday night and continued throughout the next morning. Sherman loved playing and eating the snow. He walked out onto our deck and was like “what is this stuff?” He tried to run around, but it had been raining for 3 days straight and now all the water was ice and he kept on sliding. The next morning he got all excited when he went outside and there was even more of that white stuff. He loved just running around eating it. He loved to kill the snowmen by knocking them down. He enjoyed walking around and sniffing all of the new white round friends in the neighborhood. There was even a doggy friend in the front yard that stuck around for about 3 days. He really enjoyed catching snowballs. He was so cute trying to find the snowballs when they landed in the snow. He would have been happy to stay all day outside.
After playing in the snow all day, he was one tired puppy.Sherman in the snow

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Last week, a very sweet puppy friend gave us 4 tickets to the Charlotte Bobcat’s game. I went with my dad, sister, Chelsea and her puppy JJ and of course, Sherman. Our seats were on the 5th row behind the hoop. There really was not much room for 2 puppies, so Chelsea and I got called down by one of the security guards. Thankfully it was just to give us new seats, which turned out to be even better. They escorted us to the handicap area and JJ and Sherman had a lot more space and we had a better view. The Bobcats were playing the Orlando Magic whose uniforms were blue, black and white. JJ and Sherman were rooting for their home team without even realizing it. At half time we went and walked around. A guy came up and wanted to know if he could shoot our dogs and pointed to a camera. We said sure and they filmed them for a few minutes, while other people were coming up to take pictures of JJ and Sherman. It turns out that the clip of Sherman and JJ was on national TV. They were on Fox Sports. After halftime Sherman snuggled up next to JJ and went to sleep. They were both so good. We were offered to train several other people’s dogs. The noise, people, or food all over the ground didn’t seem to bother them at all. We could not have asked for better puppies. It was definitely an experience that neither of us will ever forget. I know that I was extremely honored to share it with two special pups, a good friend, and family.

About Me

I am a college student who raises puppies for Southeastern Guide Dogs. I am currently raising my sixth puppy, a very handsome black and tan lab named Joe. My first, second, and fourth puppies are working guide dogs, my fifth puppy is a spoiled rotten pet and my third puppy is a therapy dog and my co-raiser.

Disclaimer

This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by Southeastern Guide Dogs, Inc. The views and opinions stated here belong to the blog author and may not accurately reflect those of Southeastern Guide Dogs, Inc.

Puppy #2

Puppy #3

Name: ElyBreed: Yellow LabradorTattoo: 1R6Mom: LucyDad: SpiritBirthday: July 20, 2006Date arrived: September 29, 2006Recalled: October 17, 2007Status: Gifted Canine due to hip dysplasia-Living with our Family and working as a therapy dog- November 2007